WEEK 3! This week has made me question a lot about myself. When interviewing farmers and spending time with locals this week, I focused less on how I present myself and my “foreigner” identity, and much more on diving into their stories. Their values, experiences, and teachings have made me rethink everything that had seemed set before. My definition of success and political and religious beliefs.
Starting this wave was a discussion about abortion. Hope and I wandered into the school and ended up sitting in a circle with a few girls and a guy to listen in on their Bible Study/Health class discussion. The question was, “Why is abortion wrong?” and the textbook given was the Bible. Each student answered the same phase: “because the Lord says abortion is a sin”. I knew that this was a sensitive topic especially because I’m Hindu and believe mostly in science. When the group was done answering, I began giving scenarios to the kids, questioning whether abortion would be the proper solution to any of those situations. I wanted to see if abortion was wrong according to the kids’ morals or just the Lord that they deeply follow. It took a while to get away from the phrasing, “because the Lord”, but the conversation turned into respectful debate. Some girls described how if a girl was too young to care for a child, she should have the ability to prioritize herself, while the young boy shared how children were gifts from God and how God has a plan of life for everyone which doesn’t include a need to sin. I really enjoyed this discussion. Soon enough, the kids were the ones asking the somewhat controversial questions about teenage pregnancies, stigmas, and cultural differences between the West and Kenya. This made me think about my opinion of God’s influence on life. I have always believed in free will and that some supernatural being is watching over us, but not influencing our actions and shaping our beliefs. At the same time, I’m Hindu and believe in karma and dharma. That day at lunch, I sat there confused. What do I believe? It seemed that a lot of my beliefs were just juxtaposing themselves. That’s where I had sort of a political crisis also, while on the phone with my parents. I decided that I would learn more about Hinduism. I’ve never read the Bhagavad Gita or any part of the Mahabharata so I decided I would start that to learn more about my philosophies. That conversation especially, I learned the importance of shutting up and listening before sharing my own thoughts. I learned more that I thought I would. That’s also pushed me to dive more into politics that I never thought I would explore. It’s been interesting so far and I want to keep up this curiosity that the kids have shared with me.
Next, my research! Ok, less about my actual research and more about my observations. This week, most of our interviews were set up on farmer teachers’ farms and neighboring farmers would walk on over to be interviewed after each other. Aside from the information they shared, I noticed the way the farmers just talked to each other. I had noticed that on the long drive there too. Men and women just sitting on the sides of the roads with plastic chairs and eating and laughing. Completely different from New York’s avoiding eye contact with strangers and having somewhere to be CONSTANTLY. Here, I truly appreciate the rural lifestyle for the first time. What defines success? Sitting comfortably with your neighbors during broad daylight or enjoying a bigger and more spacious office with a beautiful view? What exactly are we trying to achieve? When I see some of the jobs in NY, their impact on human life in somewhat indirect. But at the same time, those salaries that are the ones funding projects at research institutions like these. Should ones job be based on how much impact they have or can it be something more theoretical and academic? Seeing lifestyles so incredibly different from the ones I’m used to has made me rethink what I want my life to amount to. Especially because I have my academic advising meeting soon to plan the goal of the next four years of my life. I’m still in a state of confusion, but I’m happy I’ve gotten the opportunity to hear from people with all sorts of jobs. It’s also made me more excited to try as many things as I can when I go to college. Away from the goingons in my mind, I saw some really cool things this week. We saw a machine running on oil and cold and hot water (to make sure that it doesn’t catch on fire apparently) which takes the juice out of sugarcane. The machine has no mattery. After squeezing juice out of the stalks, the farmers use the stalks as fuel to put in the fire which heats up the juice and makes it in a candy like texture. It essentially becomes like a caramel at the end of this process. I learned about natural remedies to reduce the number of pests that infect crops. Wood ash. Mixture of pele-pele pepper, bar soap, and water (for tomatoes specifically). Hot hot peppers. Desmodium. Mix of these yellow flowers, peppers, and black jacks. I learned about drip irrigation, mulching, plowing effectively on a hill to reduce soil runoff, agronomic practices during droughts and floods. I also learned that if you mix goat urine with water and put it in fertilizer for tomato and mango crops, the fruits turn out incredibly sweet. Yes, I was suspicious at first, but this woman knew what she was talking about. It’s been so awesome. I’m hearing from farmers who have 50 years of farming experience and Gen. Z farmers who are incorporating sustainability into their fields. I’m trying to understand how these machines work and the science behind the concoctions. I’m really enjoying it.
On Friday, ICIPE hosted a culture day where scientists/employees of the institute came together to share their ethnic clothing, dances, and foods. Everyone was so dressed up. Hope and I were somewhat forced into sharing an American dance so we performed “Cotton Eyed Joe”. It seemed like the most American thing at the time. Everyone joined us and we won the dancing segment of the competition! When I felt sore after that performance, I knew that it was time to actually move my body. I’ve been trying to do 10,000 steps a day (I compete with my friend Rodoshi on this app StepUp) and a core workout during the morning. Feeling much better, but pretty much I’m sore everywhere now. Especially while sitting in the car, driving through a road that had SOOO many bumps in it. We were quite literally jumping out of our seats. Painful. I’ve also just had more time to relax on Sunday and today (Tuesday) so it’s been nice to just sleep, read, and think.
Lastly, this week I learned how to whistle, somewhat do a French bread, and take time to do nothing without the guilt of wasting time (which took longer than you would think). Mama Joyce is returning from Nairobi today which is exciting! Some souvenirs that I ordered are coming today! My goals for the next week are to finish the book I’ve been reading, go to sleep early, and just go with the flow of the day whether it be relaxing or chaotic. Reflecting, I’ve never thought of my life as in depth as I have this week. Crazy.
